Explore the most popular walking trails in William B Bankhead National Forest with hand-curated trail maps and driving directions as well as detailed reviews and photos from hikers, campers and nature lovers like you.

Loved the hike. I carried my 5 yo twins and it was a little challenging. We decided to stay to the right of the trail and take the long way around. Took the other route on the way back. I was a little nervous walking up the side of the hill because the trail was so close to the edge. Just made sure I had a firm grip on the twins until we made it up. It’s a simple walk for the most part. The water fall was breathtaking. We will definitely hike this trail again.

Hiked this trail this April. We did the loop in about 3 days camping along the way. We went south starting at the Thompson Trail head and had a blast. There were a lot of campsites (few if none followed the 200 feet from trail/river rule). We also took a trail that only showed up on the view ranger app from the short jaunt on trail 204 on this map cutting southwest back to the Thompson Trail head. It was a bit harder to follow but also the coolest part of the trip.

I hiked this with my two boys (6 and 9) and we had a blast. The hike down to the falls was easy, back up it's steap but they ran up it most of the way. The falls were beautiful and we had a lot of fun hiking off trail around the area, mostly following the stream and skipping rocks.

Beautiful and runnable for the most part. I did miss a turn at one point and had to backtrack. I would rank this trail as easy. The access road has some rough patches, but I made it fine in my camper van. I will definitely return to explore some more.

Took 206 in on Friday night. Went ahead and hiked down 209 towards Bee Branch. Lot of trees down along the way but the trail is well defined. We were going to go to the big tree on Saturday morning and finish out on the Outlaw trail back to Thompson trail head but managed to get extremely lost at the 209 end junction and hiked a mile or so to know where. Never could locate a defined trail or the outlaw trail. The area we wound up in was very hard and a ton of downed trees. This was our first time so I’m sure we just missed something. Ended up doubling back and going back out the same way we came in but skipping going through the eye of the needle. 13 miles total but enjoyed it.